Love In Training
by Michelle Gilman
Summary: When hired for a new movie, Sana needs a karate trainer. It's only natural that Rei assign the best in Japan to work for her! But what happens when the stoic trainer becomes much more than just a teacher? SxA
1. The Karate Man and The Actress

**A/N: **As the infamous Akito Hayama would say: "Yo". I haven't read the manga, but I've seen almost all of the anime. So if some of them aren't in character, I'm really sorry. Please leave me "P.S." or side note in your review if you have any suggestions about that, or anything else for that matter! I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kodocha or any of its characters. Drat!

---

"This is it folks! The last math of the Atari Kawasaki finals!" the announcer's voice rang out through the P.A. system.

Akito stood rigidly in position, his eyes boring into his opponent's.

His challenger smirked confidently at him, narrowing his eyes a little as he did so.

'_Such a waste of confidence,_' Akito thought, his face staying stoic as ever.

The bell rung and both men rushed forward. Akito jabbed his fist out rapidly, just missing his opponent as the challenger ducked. He frowned and swung his foot downward, aiming for the man's ankles to knock him off of his feet, but his opponent instantly jumped, making Akito miss. Akito grumbled a little and shot his other fist out, successfully hitting his opponent in the gut.

The dark-haired opponent let out a pained grunt as he was knocked downwards. Akito rushed forward to finish the match, but his opponent quickly jumped to his feet.

Akito blocked an attack as he swiftly released another downward kick and knocked his opponent back on the ground, quickly getting up and putting his fist only inches above his opponent's neck.

The referee counted to three and raised his hands up in the air. "Hayama Akito wins the Atari Kawasaki finals!" he yelled.

Akito stood up straight and let his opponent get to his feet before they both faced each other and bowed. Immediately after, a roar of applause and cheering erupted from the stands as all of the fans cheered loudly for him.

He couldn't believe he'd gotten this far. He had always been into karate since he was a little kid, six and a half in fact, and his teachers had always praised him for being one of the best, but he never imagined himself at the world's biggest tournaments, the Atari Contest for Karate. Even better, he was had just won the Kawasaki finals!

"Akito! Akito!" an extremely happy looking man his age with glasses and brown hair called out to him.

Akito glanced over at the man with his piercing hazel eyes. Seeing who it was, he turned to face him and mumbled a quiet, "Yo."

The brunette panted a little before standing up straighter and smiling. "You won Akito! You won the Atari Kawasaki finals!" he exclaimed, catching his breath.

Akito nodded curtly. "Yup."

"Aren't you excited? You're going to the nationals!" he continued to rant about his best friend's victory.

"Tsuyoshi, it's not like I won the whole thing," he replied in a monotone, although inside he was thrilled at the fact at making it this far.

"I know, but think about it, you're close to it! You could set a record for being the youngest kid to win the Atari Cup!" he went on.

"I'm seventeen," he sighed, "The youngest person to win so far was eighteen, that's not too much younger."

"But it's still something!" Tsuyoshi exclaimed excitedly, not giving up.

Akito sighed and gave a small 'humph' before beginning to walk off of the small stage.

Tsuyoshi instantly followed at his heels, humming a happy tune at Akito's victory.

"Akito, good job!" an adult voice praised him.

Akito turned to see his dad walking up to him in his usual relaxed pace with his sister, Natsumi, following behind him cheerfully. "Yo," he mumbled his usual greeting.

"Wasn't he awesome Mr. Hayama?" Tsuyoshi asked excitedly.

His father nodded. "As always," he answered, a light smile lighting up his face as well. It seemed as if Akito was the only one not smiling in the cheerful little group. "He's come such a long way."

"It's only to be expected, with him working so hard and all!" Natsumi chimed in, "Speaking of which…" She looked up at her father, giving him a nudge.

"Oh right! Akito, we have some exciting news!" Mr. Hayama exclaimed, the smile on his face widening a little.

Akito raised a brow at the announcement.

"You were requested by your karate instructor to train the oh-so-famous Sana Karuta!" he yelled.

Akito sat in silence for a few minutes, staring blankly at the ground before his he answered the question with a simple, "No."

"What?" Tsuyoshi yelled, "You don't want to train the most beautiful actress in all of Japan?"

Akito snorted. "Beautiful? Hardly! That girl can ask someone else, I don't want the job."

"Akito Hayama!" Natsumi shouted angrily, "You're being stupid! Just because she's famous doesn't mean she's stuck up or anything! Besides, you haven't even seen her pictures yet, so how can you say she's not beautiful?"

Akito mentally sighed. His sister had gotten good at reading him over the years. Scary good.

"I don't like celebrities," he snorted.

"You should really consider this opportunity Akito," his father piped up, a serious expression on his face.

"Come on Akito! Please?" Tsuyoshi begged.

"You just want to meet her huh?" he asked bluntly.

Tsuyoshi gave a nervous laugh as his hand flew to the back of his neck and the blood rushed to his cheeks, making them a light red color. "Well…uh…" he fumbled for words.

'_I was right,_' Akito thought, inwardly smirking. "Nope," he stated firmly.

"Akito, you should really reconsider," a new voice suggested.

Akito turned and faced the easily recognizable voice. "Sensei," he whispered, his stoic face not wavering.

"I overheard the last bit of your conversation and thought that I should tell you a little more about the job," he offered, "Sana is doing a movie soon where she needs to learn karate. Maybe you've heard of it? It's called 'The Dojo' and has lots of martial arts scenes in them. Her manager, Rei Sagami, told the Atari Contest for Karate that he wanted the winner of the Kawasaki finals to be offered the job of training her."

"But why not the Tokyo winner? Wasn't the winner already decided a few weeks ago?" Tsuyoshi questioned, "Not to mention, Tokyo is where she lives, so it would be more convenient."

"The Tokyo winner sprained her ankle during the fight and needs to recuperate and rest for a while. So, since Kawasaki is close to Tokyo, Sagami-san wants the winner of the Kawasaki finals to teach her," his teacher explained.

"Makes sense," Tsuyoshi mumbled.

Akito looked at his teacher with silent eyes, listening to the details.

"It's an honor Akito," his teacher continued, turning to the stoic man, "Plus, training her might help with your own discipline, I hear she's hard to handle."

Akito's interest perked up a little at the last part of what his master had said. '_Sounds like a challenge,_' he thought, a smirk spreading over his tough exterior. "Will I get paid?" he asked.

His teacher nodded.

Akito's smirk widened even more. "Alright, I guess I'll do it. It's near where the nationals are anyways," he accepted.

"Right! The nationals are in Tokyo huh?" Tsuyoshi asked.

Akito nodded.

"Then it's set!" Mr. Hayama exclaimed, "Next week we leave for Tokyo!"

---

"A karate instructor?" a young red-headed girl asked calmly, something very unusual for her.

Her mother nodded. "Me and Rei-kun think it's best that you learn actual karate skills from someone who's a trained professional. It will make your movie look more authentic," she explained in her usual relaxed demeanor.

The squirrel on top of her head began to strike karate poses on the miniature dojo on top of her head. The black karate outfit he was wearing, gently gliding with him as he struck each pose.

"Mama, are you serious? I've learned all I need to know from the Komawari acting troupe!" she exclaimed, jumping up on her chair and striking a couple fake looking karate poses.

The little squirrel shook his head in dismay at her.

"Now Maro, don't be rude," she hissed to the little squirrel before turning her attention to the ecstatic girl again, "Sana, sit down."

Sana looked at her mom and blinked a couple times before plopping back down in her seat and taking a bite of the toast on the plate in front of her.

"You know that Komawari isn't real karate. It's acting," she told her daughter.

Sana swallowed her toast and sighed. "Fine, I'll take lessons," she gave in.

"Excellent!" her mother exclaimed, throwing up her arms and nearly knocking Maro off of the tiny dojo on the top of her head. "Now, he'll be teaching you on Saturdays, Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays."

"All of those days?" she shouted in dismay, the toast falling from her hand and back onto the crumb filled plate in front of her.

Her mother nodded. "Yes. He'll also be attending your school and staying with us while he teaches you," she added.

Sana groaned, as a thought crossed her mind. "Did you say 'he'll' be staying with us? As in a man?" she asked densely.

Her mother nodded again.

"You're allowing a man my age to stay here?" she asked with disbelief on her face.

"Allow? I offered for him to stay here!" she exclaimed proudly. She chuckled a little at her daughter's denseness, as Sana's jaw dropped.

"Offered him to stay here? Mama! What were you thinking?" she shouted.

Her mother stood up and walked over to the front door, grabbing a powder blue coat from off of the entry room's coat rack. "I was thinking that it would be easier for him to teach you, not to mention that he'd have no where else to stay," she explained, handing Sana the coat. "You'll need this dear, trust me."

Sana sighed and took the coat from her mother. "Alright fine. But I just got back from my movie shoot in Australia, I just wanted to spend more time with my friends!" she argued.

Her mother shook her head. "Sana, this is important for your movie. It's only in six months, which isn't a very long time to master the basics, let alone anymore in karate."

Sana paused for a moment, thinking it over, before sighing and nodding her head. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense," she agreed.

"Now put your coat on. You'll need it for your walk to school and for when we pick him up from the airport tonight," she instructed.

"We're picking him up tonight?" she asked with surprise.

Her mother nodded. "Yes. At the Tokyo International airport," she informed her daughter.

Sana nodded and ran out the door after grabbing the coat from her mother. "See you later mom!" she called over her shoulder.

She hustled down the steps and ran to the front gate, grabbing the last pole on the iron gate and twirling herself around it and onto the sidewalk.

"Hey Sana!" she heard from behind her.

She turned around with a bright smile on her face to see her one of her best friends, Fuka Matsui, running towards her and waving her arms frantically through the air with her school bag's single strap slung around her shoulder.

When the dark-haired girl reached Sana, she was hunched over and panting from the jog over. When she caught her breath, she stood up straight and smiled almost as brightly as Sana. "You were farther away then you looked!" she complained.

Sana laughed. "It just means you have to get in shape!" she joked.

"That's not fair Sana! You can run almost a thousand miles an hour!" Fuka yelled.

"Ten thousand," Sana corrected, pretending to cough as she said it.

Fuka pouted at her best friend. "See what I mean?" she asked.

Sana laughed again. "Don't worry Fuka, I was only kidding!"

"It's still not fair," Fuka grumbled under her breath.

The two stopped at a smaller sized house. A girl with shoulder length light brown hair and a slender frame stepped out. She gave a wave inside the door quickly before shutting it and running over to Sana and Fuka.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey Aya," Sana greeted with a bright smile.

"Hey Sana-chan," she replied in her usual quiet tone, "What's up?"

Sana shrugged as she stared straight ahead at the sidewalk in front of her. "Nothing really," she replied slowly.

"That means there's something big," Fuka whispered loudly to Aya, who just smiled and chuckled a little.

"Well, nothing big," she said, glancing at her friends before turning her gaze back to the sidewalk.

"That means there's still something though, right?" Aya asked, her eyes widening a little in anticipation.

"Well, kind of…just that Mama told me we're picking up my new karate instructor tonight," she answered.

Her best friends squealed with excitement, standing on either side of her and moving closer. "You're getting a karate instructor? Is it a boy? What's he look like? Oh I hope he's cute!" Fuka questioned, her eyes becoming dreamy at the thought of a cute boy teaching Sana karate.

Sana laughed at her friends' antics. "Yes, he's a boy. I haven't seen him yet, so I don't know what he looks like, and he's teaching me karate for a movie I'll be shooting soon called 'The Dojo'," so she explained.

"Wait, a new movie?" Aya asked sadly, "Does that mean you'll be leaving again?"

Sana sighed and looked at the ground again. "Well, I'm not sure. All I know is that I'll be leaving for sure in about six months," she answered.

"Where are you going be filming?" Fuka asked.

"New Zealand!" Sana shouted, punching a fist into the air in excitement.

The two girls gasped as they walked through the school gates.

"New Zealand? That's so cool!" Fuka exclaimed.

"Definitely!" Aya agreed.

The bell chimed, signaling that class was about to start and the three made a mad dash for the front door.

"We're going to be late!" Sana screamed.

---

**A/N: **Sorry this chapter is a little on the boring side…I just wanted you to get the feel for the characters a little. Tell me if I should continue or not…I'm a little iffy on it. Thanks for taking time to read this! I can't grantee all chapters will be this long, but I'll try to make them as long as I can (with school and everything going).

Thanks for reading,

Michelle G.

P.S. A review would be absolutely lovely!


	2. The Meeting

**A/N:** Thank you for all the reviews! I really didn't expect to get that many! I'm glad you're all enjoying the story so far! I just wanted to mention that this is my first Kodocha fan fiction, but I'll be writing more too.

Thanks so much for reading!

---

Sana sighed as she looked through her closet for something to wear. Wearing her normal outfit just didn't seem right to go pick up a karate trainer. She wanted to dress up just a little for him.

Wait…dress up for _him_?

No, she wanted to dress up so she would look like a star, not just some kid.

She went back to digging through her closet until she found a red turtleneck shirt and a black pin-straight skirt that ended about knee-length.

Putting on the ensemble, she smiled at her reflection.

She reached for a necklace on top of her nightstand with a serene expression on her face. It was just a simple blue sapphire colored heart on a gold chain, but it held so much significance to her.

"Sana," she heard her mother call from the door.

She turned around with a bright smile replacing the serene one to face her mother. "Yes Mama?" she asked sweetly.

"It's time to go," she announced in her usual calm demeanor. She took a few steps toward the staircase before turning around again and adding, "By the way dear, you look very nice today. Are you trying to impress Hayama-san?"

Sana's cheery smile quickly turned to a frown as she furrowed her eyebrows. "I am not Mama! How you could you say such a thing? I haven't even met the guy yet!" she screamed.

Her mother gave a fox-like laugh before walking out of the room and down the hall.

- - -

'_Thank God,'_ the stoic boy thought, _'Only a few more minutes.'_

A big sign reading 'Welcome to Tokyo' flashed on the small TVs scattered through out the plane as sped along. It had been an extremely boring flight. Everyone he was with, which included Tsuyoshi, Natsumi, his dad, and his good friend Takaishi, were rambling on and on about the famous Sana Karuta.

"It's only a few more minutes," Tsuyoshi squealed a bit of a girlish tone. His eyes were glazed over with a dreamy expression on his face. "I wonder if she's as pretty as all the pictures make her look…"

"Man, I hope so," Takaishi, who was sitting in the seat beside him, agreed dreamily.

"I'll bet you it's only because they cake pounds of make-up on her," Akito commented rudely.

The comment only earned him a glare from his friends and Natsumi. Usually his father would agree, but he was sleeping peacefully in the seat in front of him.

"Shut up Akito! You're only jealous of Sana-chan," Natsumi pouted at her younger brother from the seat in front of him.

"What's there to be jealous of? Besides, at least I'm not a twenty one year old who obsesses over a seventeen year old girl," he retorted, smirking at her.

"It's not an obsession!" she huffed at him angrily. Without another word, she turned back around in the passenger seat to face forward with a small 'humph' and folded her arms over her chest, muttering something about how annoying little brothers were.

"That was kind of rude Akito," Tsuyoshi whispered worriedly in his ear.

"Who cares?" he asked out loud in a passive tone, missing Tsuyoshi's uneasy face before his friend turned to stare out the small airplane window. He put his headphones in his ears and closed his eyes, hoping that maybe some sleep would help calm him down, even if it was only for a few minutes.

---

"Gosh, did he _have_ to take a plane to get here just from Kawasaki?" Sana grumbled. She tapped her fingers rhythmically on the plastic chairs they were sitting in to wait for him. She always tried her best not to be a diva, but the guy was already getting on her nerves and she hadn't even met him yet!

"I bet it was easier for him to travel by plane," Aya suggested optimistically.

"I have to agree with Sana on this one Aya," Fuke argued, folding her arms over her chest. Her face was twisted into a pout as she glared at the white pillar in front of her. "There's no excuse for a trainer to be late. I don't care how cute he is, it's just not proper!"

"Well…maybe his plane was delayed," Aya tried to cheer them up.

Sana heaved an irritated sigh. "Maybe," she agreed, trying to calm down.

"It's over twenty minutes late!" Fuka shouted, causing some of the people passing by to look at the three girls strangely. Her voice immediately dropped into a whisper as she continued, "I don't see how that could happen. All of the other planes were on time!"

Aya sighed, raising a hand to her mouth shyly. "That's true…" she agreed.

"Here you are Sa- I mean Tina, Fuka, and Aya," Rei greeted the three girls individually while handing them their drinks from the small store next to them. They had given Sana a fake name to hide her from the press and dressed her in boys' clothes with her hair up in a baseball cap. She had put up a fight about wearing the outfit she'd selected earlier, but in the end her mother and Rei had won by saying she would get plagued with reporters that were expecting her at the airport.

"Thank you Rei!" Sana exclaimed, eagerly grabbing the cup full of hot chocolate from his hands.

She'd never been a big fan of coffee, something which everyone was thankful for. She simply couldn't stand the bitter taste of it, and thought hot chocolate was tasted better anyways, although Fuka and Aya were almost to the point of addiction to the stuff.

"Maybe this will calm me down," Fuka sighed, taking the cup with a smile and sipping it the hot liquid.

"Thanks," Aya chirped as she gracefully accepted the coffee. She took a small sip and set it down on the table, complaining that it was still a little too hot.

"Attention passengers, plane number 469 is arriving in Tokyo. Plane 469 is arriving in Tokyo," the intercom announced loudly.

"It's about time!" Fuka yelled, slamming the coffee down on the table and furrowing her brows in annoyance.

"Now Fuka-chan, you shouldn't do that to poor Rei," Aya scolded her timidly, pointing to the older manager.

Sana stifled a laugh at her manager's appearance. His face had splotches of coffee all over from Fuka slamming the cup on the table.

He grabbed a handkerchief from his back pocket and removed his sunglasses. He wiped the coffee off of them, and then off of his face before putting his sunglasses back on and his handkerchief back in his pocket. "Is it gone?" he asked.

Sana nodded and he smiled, taking the fourth seat at the small table.

"Oh man, those guys are cute!" Fuka whispered in awe to the other two girls.

Sana followed her gaze to find three extremely attractive guys. One of them had spiky black hair and calmly looked from one person to the next. Another had light brown hair and was looking around frantically at each person that walked by. While the last one had messy blonde hair and leaned on another one of the white pillars with what looked like headphones in his ears.

"Yeah, especially the one with light brown hair!" Aya whispered excitedly with wide eyes.

"No way, it's definitely the one with black hair," Fuka argued, crossing her arms over her chest and smirking at the handsome man.

Sana sighed. "You guys are fighting over men you haven't even met!" she exclaimed in an agitated voice.

Aya and Fuka looked at each other and big grins spread across their faces. "Then let's go!" they shouted. Sana barely had enough time to set her drink down on the small coffee table before each of her friends grabbed one of her arms and dragged her along with them.

"Guys let go! Guys!" she shouted at her friends as they smirked at her.

"Come on Sana, you really need to find a boyfriend! You haven't even had a boyfriend and you're seventeen years old!" Fuka complained, sighing at her friends antics as Sana flailed around, trying to escape their grasp.

"I'm not ready to date yet! You guys know that!" she yelled back, wiggling around even more. She didn't even notice all the people in the terminal staring at the three young girls.

"Come…on…Sana!" Fuka grunted as she struggled to keep her grasp on Sana.

Sana was about to reply when a loud shout interrupted her.

"It's Asako Karumi!" the voice shouted, causing whispers of excitement and disbelief to break out among everyone around them.

The three all looked at each other with questioning eyes.

"Do you really think it's her?" Aya asked shyly, raising one of her hands to her mouth while still keeping a firm grasp on Sana.

"Maybe, should we check it out?" Fuka asked, letting go of Sana's arm and causing her fall onto the carpeted ground with a thud.

Aya followed suit and dropped Sana's other arm so that she was now laying on the floor. "Alright! Let's go!" she agreed.

The two ran off without another word. Almost all of the people in the airport had left the terminal to go see Sana's famous friend, leaving her lying on the ground in the center of the enormous room that seemed completely empty.

She stood up and brushed off her baggy boy jeans and oversized shirt, thankful her cap hadn't fallen off and exposed her as well. "Honestly, people are just too wild about us stars," she muttered.

"Hey you," a monotone voice called.

Sana turned around to see that the boy with messy blonde hair hadn't moved a muscle from his position on the white pillar. Her eyes widened in fear as she wondered if he'd just heard her.

"Y-yes," she stuttered, forgetting to use a fake voice.

"I knew it," the man muttered, although Sana could hear it since the room was almost completely silent. He closed his eyes and she heard him let out a sigh.

She looked around to see if anyone had figured out she was really Sana Kurata, the famous movie star, but the few people that were left looked just like normal, either milling around or going through the airport security. She walked briskly over to the man and glared up at him. "Knew what?" she hissed.

"That you weren't really a guy," he replied flatly, smirking.

Now that Sana was up close, she could see the headphones in his ears and wondered if they were really on or if he just had excellent hearing. "Listen buddy," she whispered menacingly, glaring at the slightly taller boy, "So what? I'm just a girl with short hair! Got a problem with that?"

The man opened his eyes to reveal the gorgeous chocolate brown color gazing back at her. She didn't even feel her angry façade slip into a dreamy expression as she looked into them, her own hazel eyes widening.

"What's the matter Miss Kurata?" he whispered teasingly, "Am I really that attractive?"

Sana immediately glared at him again as he said her name. "How do you know who I am?" she snapped, ignoring his taunts.

"My friend Tsuyoshi never stops talking about what you look like and how great your acting skills are," he explained, "Not to mention that I can recognize the voice I hear from the TV when my sister watches your TV show every day." A smirk spread on his features and Sana felt a chill run down her spine.

"What are you, some kind of stalker?" she sneered, taking a step back and putting her fists up in a sloppy manner.

His smirk widened as he picked up the red and black duffel bag next to his feet. She needed karate training badly. "The name is Akito Hayama," he answered, "I'm going to be your new karate instructor."

---

"Tina! Tina!"

Akito looked to see a girl with dark brown hair and another with light brown hair rushing over to where she was. '_Who's Tina?'_ he wondered, _'Must be a fake name.'_

As the two girls reached her, they smiled brightly.

He expected Sana to either smile back or to ask who they were, but what the teenager did surprised him.

"How could you guys just run off and abandon me?" she asked angrily, throwing her arms up in the air for emphasis.

The girl with light brown hair looked at the ground with guilty eyes, but the other just continued to smile. "We talked to the two really cute guys!" she boasted.

Sana smiled at the two girls, even though Akito could see a hint of anger was still in her eyes. "Were they as cute as you thought?" she asked.

They both nodded vigorously.

Akito was getting sick of all the girl talk and decided he should make himself noticed. He coughed loudly and looked at Sana.

All three girls turned to him as if they just noticed him and saw the darker haired girl's face break into a devilish smile from the corner of his eye. He didn't have time to really wonder what she was thinking before Sana's voice cut into his thoughts.

"Fuka, Aya, this is Akito Hayama, my karate instructor," Sana introduced them, smiling brightly at all three and pointing to him. "Hayama, this is Fuka, and this is Aya!" She pointed to each of them as she said their names.

Akito made a mental note of their names so that he wouldn't have to distinguish them by their hair color.

Aya's eyes widened a little at the sight of him and she quietly asked, "Weren't you the one with the guys we saw?"

Sana and Fuka looked at him again and gasped. "You're right Aya-chan!" Sana exclaimed.

As if on cue, Akito spotted Tsuyoshi and Takaishi walking towards all of them. _'Well this should be interesting,'_ Akito silently mused.

"Huh? Fuka? Aya?" the two of them asked when they saw Sana's friends.

Fuka and Aya just giggled, realizing that they had been right and nodded.

The boys' faces broke into huge grins at the new info, as they looked at each other with satisfied faces.

"I didn't know you guys knew Akito," Takaishi commented, continuing to smile.

"We don't, we're Sana's friends," Aya replied, then covered her mouth as she accidentally used Sana's real name.

Tsuyoshi and Takaishi immediately looked at Sana. Their eyes widened as realization dawned on them that _the_ Sana Karata was standing right in front of them. They wasted no time in rushing over to her and shaking her hand enthusiastically.

"Wow! I'm a huge fan Karata-san!" Tsuyoshi exclaimed.

"Me too!" Takaishi added, staring at her in awe.

"It's uh…nice to meet you," Sana greeted, a little shocked that they were being so friendly and outgoing. Most people would just gape at her and ask her a million questions about acting or her movies or how much money she made.

"The bumbling idiots over here," Akito drawled in his usual monotone, "Are my best friends Tsuyoshi and Takaishi."

Sana smiled at them. "Nice to meet you!"

They began to talk at the same time, saying different things before finally saying at the same time, "The pleasure is all ours!"

She laughed a little before a tall man with a gray suit and black sunglasses on rushed over to all of them. "Tina, is this Akito Hayama?" he asked her.

Sana nodded. "Yes, and these men are going to be staying with us also, they're Tsuyoshi and Takaishi," she told him.

"Tina?" Takaishi asked, confused, "I thought you're name was-"

Akito cut him off by karate chopping him on the head. "She's using a fake name," he quickly explained.

The sunglasses guy nodded. "Right, it's to keep the press from finding us today," he informed them. "Well, let's get going. Misako won't be happy if we're late…"

"Oh, right!" Sana chirped, grabbing Akito's wrist and dragging him along with her as she sped ahead of the sunglasses guy.

Akito let out a frustrated sigh at being dragged around. Usually he'd yank his wrist away, but he wanted to make sure he wasn't too rude to his employer on the first day, otherwise he might lose his job.

---

**A/N:** I think this is a good place to stop. I really can't think of much to say except for that 8th grade is tough! I don't like how we have a lot more homework than last year…it makes me feel pretty sad…anyways, I was really happy to write this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed reading it too!

**Note:** I'm sure many of you are wondering what happened to the Hayama family. This was not a mistake or anything. It will all be revealed in chapter 3.

Please review! (It makes me happier!)

Cheers,

Micki G

(This is how I'm going to sign from now on, since this how I sign my messages and such. It's a nickname of mine and I really do love it! haha)


	3. How I Met Your Mother

**A/N:** Hey everyone! Long time no see (I know…). I hope you all really enjoy this chapter! I had SO much fun writing it!

Also, my beta reader let me know that the right spelling is "Kurata" and not "Karata". So I'll make sure it's spelled right from now on.

Don't forget to review!

------

"And this is your room!" Sana cheerfully exclaimed, gesturing to the white double doors with polished silver handles.

Tsuyoshi and Takaishi had already been given a couple makeshift bedrooms, but Akito's had been previously set up by Rei.

Sana pulled gently on the silver handle and opened the white door.

She saw the tiny frown on Akito's face slightly grow as he gazed at the room with guarded eyes.

"It's pink," he commented in a disgusted tone, not moving.

Sana laughed nervously. "Well…that's because me and Mama hardly ever have male guests over, and Rei-kun already has his own room…" she trailed off when she heard him sigh.

"It's fine I guess," he muttered with annoyance.

He walked inside and curled his free hand into a fist tightly in order to keep his cool and not lose it. It wasn't too big of a deal that the room was painted hot pink, had white bed sheets, a white dresser, and sheer fabric skirting the bed.

"Are you sure?" he heard her timidly ask from the doorway.

He only nodded. "Yeah, it'll be fine."

"Alright, Aya is going to make dinner and then maybe head to the mall with me and Fuka. Would you guys like to join us?" she asked, knowing that Fuka and Aya would beat her to a pulp if she hadn't invited them. Her friends were so boy crazy that she sometimes wondered if they would grow up to have ten husbands.

Akito shook his head. "I have somewhere to be in a little bit. I'll join you for dinner though," he offered, feeling a little bad about rejecting the offer.

Sana just smiled brightly and nodded. "Alright, that's fine. Are Tsuyoshi and Takaishi going with you?" she asked, clasping her hands behind her back.

He shook his head again. "Nope. I bet they'd like to come with you guys. You should invite them," he suggested, shrugging a little.

"Alright, thanks Hayama-san!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

"For what?" he asked flatly.

"For being my karate instructor! I'm told I can be a handful sometimes," she told him, giving him a small wink and walking away down the hall.

"No problem," Akito mumbled to himself, knowing Sana wouldn't hear it. He shrugged and set down his duffle bag, looking at the most girly room he had ever set foot in with distaste.

---

"Is Hayama-san coming with us?" Aya asked, stirring the stew she was making.

Sana shook her head as she walked through the door frame. She saw Fuka sitting at the dark wood table and sat down across from her. "Hayama-san said that he had something he was doing in a little bit," she said.

"Is he coming down for dinner then?" Fuka asked.

Sana nodded. "Yeah, he did say he was coming for dinner," she replied.

"What about Tsuyoshi?" Aya asked timidly.

"And Takaishi," Fuka added.

"I haven't asked them yet. I thought that maybe you guys could ask them during dinner," Sana suggested, fidgeting with her hands nervously.

Aya and Fuka cast glances at each other. "Sure, that sounds good to us," Fuka replied with a smile.

"Great!" Sana exclaimed, smiling cheerfully. She got up from the chair and stretched. "All the excitement from today has been making me really tired, mind if I take a nap?" she asked them.

Aya shook her head. "Nope. You should get some sleep Sana-chan…you'll need it for your taping of Child's Toy with Zenjiro," she reminded her friend.

Sana groaned. "Man, I have a taping tonight? I completely forgot…I guess I need more sleep than I thought I did," she grumbled, standing up and scooting her chair back in.

She walked up the stairs in a sleepy state, nearly tripping over the last step. On her way down the hall, she bumped into something that was rock hard. "Ow," she complained as she rubbed her head. She looked up to find that none other than Akito was standing there, looking down at her with one brow raised.

"Are you feeling alright Kurata-san?" Akito asked, even though his voice seemed as if he didn't care at all.

Sana straightened up so she didn't look as tired and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little sleepy. And you don't have to call me 'Kurata-san', just call me Sana!" she exclaimed, smiling at him.

"Alright…Sana," he said hesitantly.

It was then that she noticed a small plastic bag with a flower inside it was clasped in his hand. She had to admit the flower was gorgeous, but wondered why it would be in a plastic bag.

"It's in the plastic bag so it wouldn't wilt on the flight," he remarked, as if reading Sana's mind.

"Who's it for?" she asked curiously, reaching out a finger to touch it.

"None of your damn business!" he snapped, jerking it out of her reach and glaring at her. After a second, he seemed to have realized what he had just done and gave a snort before walking past her and down the stairs.

Sana stared after him in confusion. She hadn't meant to make him mad, she was just curious. "I wonder why he was so mad…could it be that he…hates me?" she whispered to herself out loud. She sighed and walked back down the stairs. She wasn't in the mood for a nap anymore.

---

As Sana reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard a high pitched ringing sound and stopped, hiding around the corner of where she heard Akito answer the cell phone.

"What?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

Sana couldn't hear all that well and used all the skills she had learned over the years to strain and hear what the person on the other line was saying back to him.

"Akito! I can't believe you ditched us at the airport!" a woman's voice screamed, making it a lot easier for Sana to hear the conversation.

She peeked around the corner to see Akito holding the phone a few inches from his ear.

"Natsumi…" he tried to cut in, but she wasn't finished and kept on rambling into his ear as he just sighed, sitting there with the phone and waiting for her to finish.

"I mean honestly Akito, you don't know how worried me and Dad were! We were looking around the whole airport for you! We even went through all of the crazed Asako fans trying to get to you! And not only that, but we even asked almost every worker in the building where you might be…a few of them twice!" she raved, not stopping her ranting until Akito screamed in the phone.

"NATSUMI!" he shouted, making the chattering girl stop in dead silence. "I'm fine alright? I'm seventeen and can take care of myself. I've already mastered karate, so there's no chance of me getting abducted. I found Sana and we left before you two had caught up," he explained, heaving a sigh, "I mean, you guys did take forever in the bathrooms."

Sana could barely hear what sounded like growling coming from the other end of the phone before the woman, who he had called Natsumi, breathed a sigh of frustration. "Alright Akito, I'll forgive you this one time if…you buy me dinner at a fancy restaurant!" she bargained.

"But Natsumi!" he began to protest, but both he and Sana heard a click, meaning that she had hung up on him. "Bitch," he hissed at the phone, even though he knew she wouldn't hear.

Sana figured that this was probably a good time to come out, but stayed put, not wanting him to know that she'd heard the whole thing. She was about to walk away when a voice froze her in her tracks.

"I know you're there," she heard Akito say.

She slowly turned around and walked around the corner so that she was visible to him. Or at least she would have been, if he didn't have his back to her. "I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, I swear!" she exclaimed.

He just waved a hand at her, gesturing that he didn't care. "I don't care if you hear me talking to her…" he mumbled passively, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Who were you talking to anyways?" she asked carefully, adding, "Sorry if I'm being nosey…"

"Her name is Natsumi," he began, "She's my-"

Sana never heard what him finish his sentence. She ran away as fast as she could, not wanting to know what she was to him. When she stopped running, she saw that she was in front of her door. She pushed the door open and walked in, locking it behind her. She sat down softly on her window seat and stared out her bedroom window, thinking to herself. _'Why did I run away when Hayama said that? Did I think that he was going to say…but even if he had a girlfriend, why would I care? He's just a karate instructor…'_ she reasoned with herself, _'Only an instructor…'_ She felt her eyelids get heavy and she yawned before laying down on the padded window seat and falling asleep.

---

Sana flinched when she felt someone's hand gently shaking her awake. Groaning, she sat up to see Fuka and Aya standing in front of her. "Fuka…? Aya…?" she asked in a drowsy voice.

Fuka smiled brightly at the young actress. "In the flesh! You fell asleep a few hours ago. We were going to wake you up, but your mom suggested that we let you sleep for a while. We decided to tell you that we're going to the mall and since we wanna get there soon, we'll leave now and just meet you there after you get ready alright?" she asked.

Sana nodded slowly. "That sounds ok," she replied, sitting up. She felt something soft slide down her shoulder and looked down to see that a warm blanket had been placed over her formerly sleeping form.

Aya must have noticed Sana's confusion and giggled a little bit. "Should we tell her Fuka?" she asked, looking at the dark haired Kansai girl.

Fuka smirked at Aya. "I think as long as she doesn't tell it'll be fine."

"Huh? What are you guys talking about?" Sana questioned, furrowing her brows in annoyance at her friends.

The two looked at each other before exclaiming in a whisper, "Hayama-san put the blanket on you last night!"

Sana's eyes widened slightly and she could swear her heart skipped a beat when they said that. "H-Hayama-san did that?" she asked, turning her gaze back the blanket.

"Yeah...he did…Sana, are you alright? Did something happen between you and Hayama?" Fuka asked worriedly, frowning at Sana's behavior.

"Fuka's right, you're acting weird Sana," Aya added. One of her hands flew to her mouth, a nervous habit she had when she was worried or anxious.

Sana turned back to her friends and faked a smile. "Oh, nothing's wrong. I'm still drowsy from waking up," she lied. _'What's wrong with me? Why is Hayama affecting me so much?'_ she wondered.

"Alright," Fuka remarked slowly, giving Sana a suspicious look, "We'll head out then and just meet you there."

Sana nodded. "Alright, see ya there then," she agreed.

As soon as the two closed the door to her bedroom behind them, Sana heaved a heavy sigh and plopped back down on the window seat. Her body slightly bounced from the force of her back hitting the fluffy padding, and her hair was strewn all over the pillow.

A small creak outside her door alerted her and she immediately got out of her make shift bed. She opened her door and watched as Akito rounded the corner to get to the stairs. She ran and put her hair up in a baseball cap before throwing on her boy clothes and quietly slipping out the door behind him.

She watched as Hayama walked down the sidewalk and she followed closely behind, hiding behind trees, mailboxes, and sometimes even people.

Sana was surprised when he stopped in front of an iron gate with the words 'Hill Town Ridge Public Cemetery'.

He just stood there for a few minutes, staring into the cemetery before slowly opening the gate and walking in.

She was hesitant about entering, but after a couple seconds, followed him inside. When she looked around, she almost missed the blonde haired man walking down the cobblestone pathway. She followed quickly behind and hid behind one of the tombstones when he stopped walking. He turned to the small tombstone, closed his eyes and put his hands together.

Sana wondered who he knew that had died here and quietly crept out from behind the tombstone she was crouching behind. Not watching her footing, she stepped on a twig that was lying in the dirt near the stone.

Akito's eyes snapped open at the sound of the breaking twig and he turned his head sharply to face her. As soon as he saw her, his cold and piercing face slowly turned into a slightly surprised expression. "Kurata-san?" he asked.

"I told you to call me Sana, Hayama-san!" she scolded playfully. A smile broke out on her features as she looked at the stoic man.

"Only if you call me Hayama or Akito," he argued, a smirk on his face, "Hayama-san makes me sound like an old man."

"Fine, Hayama then," she agreed.

"What are you doing here anyways?" he asked, changing the subject.

Sana frowned, putting a finger to her lips in thought. "What am I doing here?" she whispered to herself. She stared at the ground, trying to remember what had driven her to come here. "To be honest, I don't remember!"

Akito heaved an annoyed sigh at the forgetful girl. "Well, you're here now…so do you…want to meet my mother?" he asked.

"Mother?" she repeated, "I don't see anyone else around here…" She put her hand to her forward and looked around, trying to spot anyone else.

Akito growled in frustration and curled his fingers into a fist to control his temper. "She's not with me stupid!" he shouted, "She's dead!"

Sana immediately froze, her eyes widening as she slowly turned to face the scowling Akito. Her hand fell to her side as she just stared at him with wide eyes. _'His mom…is…dead?'_ she thought sadly, tears welling in her eyes.

His own eyes widened at the sight of the tears in her eyes and his frown disappeared, replaced by a look of concern. "Why are you crying?" he asked her.

She sniffled as a tear fell down her cheek. "Y-You're mother is…d-dead," she stuttered, "How could I not cry?"

Akito's eyes widened even more at that statement. She was crying for his sake. That was the best thing anyone had ever done for him. He had never had anyone cry for him like this. "You should come say hi then," he suggested, not really knowing what to say.

Sana nodded, wiping the tear from her cheek and walking over to stand beside him. She watched as he closed his eyes and put his hands together, just like before, and did the same. _'Mrs. Hayama,'_ she prayed,_ 'I'm Sana Kurata, the girl that your son is teaching karate to. He must be very good…since he won the Atari Kawasaki finals, but you probably already know that. I don't know him too well yet, but I hope that I can get to know him better. I'll talk to you again sometime…'_ She opened her eyes and saw that Akito was still praying. She noted how handsome and serene his face was when he was praying. He looked calm, almost angelic, not like his normal devilish face.

He slowly began to open his eyes and Sana quickly looked at the ground, hoping he hadn't caught her looking at him. He breathed a sigh and lightly ran a hand through his golden locks.

An awkward silence filled the conversation as Sana desperately tried to find something to say. Finally, a thought struck her. "Hayama," she began, "How come your mother is buried in Tokyo if you live in Kawasaki?"

His chocolate brown eyes glanced over at her for a second before his gaze returned to the ground. "We used to live here when I was little," he answered.

Sana didn't say anything, waiting for him to continue, but he only stood in silence. She mentally sighed, wondering why he was only telling her that. Why did they move? Did something happen? She knew it would be rude to ask, but she just wanted to know! She looked down at her watch and gasped. "It's three thirty!" she screamed.

Akito looked over at her with a raised brow, "And?" he asked.

"I was supposed to be at the mall with Fuka and Aya an hour ago!" she exclaimed, sinking to her knees, "They must hate me…"

"Don't be such a drama queen," Akito mumbled, rolling his eyes, "I'm sure they won't be too upset or anything."

Sana sighed. "I know, but I was trying so hard to be on time for once," she muttered, her shoulders drooping in defeat as she silently added, '_I just _had_ to follow him…_'

"Then let's go before it gets any later," Akito ordered, calmly walking past her.

"Huh? Let's? As in…you're coming too?" she asked, trying her best to keep her jaw from dropping.

Akito nodded calmly. "I guess it could be…an okay time…"

Sana broke into a huge grin and grabbed Akito's hand. "Then what are we waiting for? We need to catch up with our friends!" she hollered, running down the cobblestone pathway again.

Akito looked down at his hand with wide eyes before quickly looking elsewhere and feeling his cheeks become a little warm. '_What's wrong with me? Why is this stupid girl affecting me so much?_' he wondered as he was dragged along.

------

**A/N:** So………here's a little fluff in the story…is it good? Bad? Awesomely awesome? Leave me a review and tell me! Sorry this took so long…I've been having difficulties coming up with new material…

Thanks for reading!

Micki G

Please Review!


	4. Akito's Kiss

**A/N:** Wow…I didn't think it was possible…but I actually ran out of things to say….

Disclaimer: I do not own Kodomo No Omcha or Kodocha, nor it's characters. This story is not being made for profit of any kind.

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Love In Training- Chapter 4

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"Sana-chan! Sana-chan, over here!" she heard Aya call.

Sana let go of Akito's hand and ran over to where Aya and Fuka were standing with Takaishi and Tsuyoshi. "Hey guys, what's up?" she asked, showing off her pearly white teeth as she smiled at them.

"Not much, just hanging out with the tag alongs," Fuka teased, poking Takaishi with a grin.

He blushed at the sudden attention and looked over at her. "Yeah, we did kinda tag along huh?" he asked sheepishly.

Fuka hit him lightly with her hand on the back of the head. "Hey, don't be so hard on yourself! If we didn't want you here, we wouldn't have invited you!" she exclaimed, grinning still at the dark spiky haired boy.

"Well, now that we're all here, why don't we do what we came to do," she suggested, a grin spreading on her face as she shouted, "Shopping!"

Aya and Fuka cheered, shooting their fists in the air, while the boys groaned. "I should've known this was a trap," Tsuyoshi mumbled. He looked at Akito for support, but his stoic friend was just staring into space. But wait…was he staring at? No, it couldn't be…could it?

"Come on Tsuyoshi," Aya giggled, linking her arm in his as she began trotting over to a formal dress shop.

Tsuyoshi's face turned bright red from the touch as he was being dragged along. After he saw where they were headed however, he grimaced at the store. Sana heard him whine, "Do we have to go in here?"

This caused the four that were left to erupt into giggles and laughter, except for Akito of course.

"Who'd of thought she'd be that brave?" Fuka asked, looking in Aya's direction to see she was holding up a dress and Tsuyoshi was nodding, a blush on his face through the store's window. "Seems like Tsuyoshi doesn't mind all that much either…"

"Why did I come again?" Akito mumbled to himself quietly.

"Because," Sana replied loudly, "We're going to have tons of fun! We'll shop, eat, drink, play, uh…run around…"

"Hey Sana, can I talk to you for a second," Fuka requested, giving Sana a rare sheepish look, "In private?"

Sana only shrugged. "Sure, do you mind guys?" she asked them.

Takaishi shook his head, while Akito just gave a tiny shrug. She would have missed it if she hadn't been looking so closely.

With that she and Fuka walked a little ways away so that the boys couldn't hear them talking. Fuka turned to face her friend with a pleading look in her eyes, and Sana wondered what her raven haired friend could possibly want.

"Would if be alright if me and Takaishi-kun went out on our own?" she asked sheepishly, a somewhat rare thing for the outgoing girl.

Sana blinked in surprise before shrugging. "Sure, if that's what you want," she agreed, not really seeing the need to walk over here just to ask her this.

Fuka broke into a wide grin before quickly hugging Sana. "You're awesome Sana!" she exclaimed. "I want to spend some time alone with him to see if he might like me," she confessed.

Sana's mouth formed an 'o' shape in understanding. "Well then good luck!" she cheered a little loudly, making her friend put her hand to her forehead in embarrassment.

"Sana, not so loud!" she whispered, looking around to see that no one had really done anything except look over for a few seconds.

-----

"Hey Akito," Takaishi said quietly to the bored-looking boy beside him.

Akito glanced at the Takaishi without saying a word to show he was listening.

"I think I like Fuka. Should I ask her out today?" he asked, a confused look in his eyes.

Akito turned his gaze back to the ground. "I say whenever you think the time is right, ask her then. But personally, I think you should wait for a while before putting any 'moves' on her and just focus on being friends and getting to know one another. Most good relationships start from friendships," he advised, making Takaishi gape at him.

"Since when did you become a relationship guru?" he asked in surprise.

Akito just shrugged and stared ahead at the girls. "My sister rants about boys all the time, so I just pick up on some things," he replied. '_I wonder what's taking so long…_' he thought, beginning to get bored.

"Oh," was all Takaishi said in response to that. "What about you Akito, do you have anyone special yet? Even just a girl you sort of like?" he asked, smiling.

Akito shook his head. "I don't need a girl in my life. Love is worthless to me. It only makes people soft and embarrassed from love confessions," he replied in a monotone. It wasn't really the truth. He was scared of rejection also, not only what he had just said. He had already been through so much sadness after losing his mother that he didn't want any more heartbreak in his life again.

"Well, suit yourself I guess," Takaishi responded a little awkwardly, looking in the direction of the girls.

In the same moment they both smiled as Fuka gave Sana a quick hug and Sana wished Fuka good luck loudly.

That made Akito smirk a little. It seemed that the Fuka liked his friend back, but he decided to let them figure it out on their own. He was definitely not Cupid.

The two girls walked over and explained that they would all just split up into groups of two since Tsuyoshi and Aya had already run off. They planned to meet up at 5 o'clock, giving them a good three or four hours to shop, eat, and do whatever else they wanted to.

As soon as Fuka and Takaishi were lost in the mall crowds, Akito felt Sana's eyes on him and he glanced back at her.

"I'm guessing you don't want to go clothes shopping do you?" she asked cheerfully, a joking tone in her voice.

Akito only shrugged and moved his gaze elsewhere.

---------

'_What is wrong with this guy?_' Sana thought to herself, '_He's acting like a total party pooper!_' She saw that he was staring up towards the food court and when she followed his gaze, she saw it was directed at a restaurant called 'Sushiland'.

She stifled a laugh at that when she asked the staring boy, "So you like sushi huh?"

He glanced back at her and gave a curt nod, which she figured probably meant yes.

She couldn't hold her laugh any longer as she quietly chuckled, causing one of his eyebrows to raise. "All you had to do was say that you wanted to go get some sushi!" she insisted, still giggling. Without giving him time to think, she quickly grabbed hold of his hand for the second time that day and started leading him to the elevator that led up to the food court before he pulled his hand away.

When she turned to face him, his eyes were blank and expressionless.

She titled her head to the side innocently with a confused look on her face. "What's wrong? Aren't you hungry for Sushi? I saw you staring up at the restaurant…" she asked, wondering why he was being so weird.

Akito's eyes bored into hers as he answered her in his unusually deep voice. "I don't want to hold hands," he said plainly.

Sana thought back to when she had grabbed his hand and felt her cheeks heat up a tiny bit. She was so used to always grabbing her friends' hands and running off that she'd forgotten Akito was a guy and probably not used to someone doing that. "Oh, sorry about that! That's just something I do to all of my friends, since they can't usually keep up," she explained with a sheepish smile.

Akito just started walking in a slow, laid back, kind of pace towards the mall's elevator, almost completely ignoring her.

With an agitated sigh, she tried to control her rising temper by taking a deep breath. She ran to catch up with him and walked along side him, trying to find something to talk about.

"You're giving yourself away," he said suddenly.

She looked up at him, since he was slightly taller, with a confused look. "What are you talking about?" she asked in her usual feminine voice.

"You're disguised as a boy, but your talking in a feminine way, tilting your head all girlish, and holding my hand," he pointed out, as if she were stupid.

She immediately adjusted her baseball cap a little and wiggled her shoulders while clearing her throat. "Isn't my girl impression good Hayama?" she asked him in a deep voice that sounded more like a mountain man than a seventeen year old boy. A few people stopped and looked at them strangely, but then kept on walking.

Akito looked at Sana and couldn't help but think she did a good job at her disguise. She did look a lot like a guy…he looked at her middle and a smirk grew on his face. "At least you look like a guy…" he commented, "Flatty."

She blinked before mumbling something about staying calm as she took a deep breath. She wouldn't let this guy get to her. He was just a stupid boy teaching her karate and she didn't even want him here.

"Well, I guess it's safe to say that we won't be going to Victoria's Secret today," he teased, shrugging with a sigh. "Seeing as how you couldn't fill out a bra."

Sana swore there had to be steam coming out of her ears by now as she glared at him. "That's IT!" she screamed, throwing her arms up in the air.

Everyone around them was now staring at them and whispering quietly. Sana paid no attention to them, and neither did Akito. The two gazes were locked as an angry stare battled an amused stare.

"I've had it Hayama! I am not a flatty! I'm only wearing a vest so that no one will find out that I'm a girl! It's hiding my uh…well, you know," she yelled, a little embarrassed at actually saying the word.

The whispers suddenly got louder as all the wide eyes were now faced in their directions.

Sana blinked, and if finally registered that she had just given away her secret. The secret that she was really a girl in the disguise of a boy. She felt the cap on her head lift up and turned around just as the person behind her had taken the baseball cap from her head. Her pigtails came tumbling from inside her hat and she desperately tried to put them back up, but it was to no avail.

Gasps echoed all around the crowd as everyone stared at the seventeen year old actress. Finally, someone screamed what she'd been fearing they would, "It's Sana Kurata!"

Suddenly flashes erupted from the crowd as men and women with cameras shoved their way to the front. The Paparazzi! She felt strong arms wrap around her waist and she was her feet were lifted off the ground.

She looked up to see Akito had a determination on his face as he ran through the crowd, tearing down the long halls of the mall and trying to find an exit as soon as possible.

He stopped for a second and put her down. While he was resting for a few seconds, she grabbed a newspaper that had caught her eye. Before she could look at it though, he had swooped her off her feet again and was now carrying her bridal style through the department store that led outside.

She didn't notice as he glanced down at her worried and fearful look in her eyes. He thought it was only from the paparazzi and swarming fans and turned his focus back to the path in front of him, trying to get her out of here as soon as possible.

------

"Sana," Akito said her name quietly.

She had been sitting there for almost an hour, just simply reading the newspaper she had grabbed from the newsstand while they had made their great escape to the roof of the mall, where they were sitting now. She looked over at him, even though her attention was still glued to the newspaper.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, sure," she replied, not really giving him her attention still.

He grabbed the newspaper from her grasp and she immediately lunged for it. "Give it back!" she shouted, springing from where she sat and towards the paper in his hands.

Akito quickly swiveled to face her and put his arm high in the air to keep it out of her reach. However, he didn't expect her to lunge at him so fiercely, and when she swiped her hand out for the paper, she missed and fell on top of him.

Her hands flew out in front of her, stopping her from accidentally kissing him, but not by much. Their faces were only inches apart and her face was flushed in embarrassment, but yet…she didn't move. He didn't either. He knew it was a compromising situation and if anyone were to find them up here, it would be all over the tabloids, but he didn't push her off of him. Her hazel eyes were enchanting and he couldn't tear his own chocolate eyes away. As if someone else were controlling his body, the paper he'd been holding slipped from his hands as he gently laid it on her shoulder, letting his other hand keep him from laying on the hard surface beneath him completely.

Still, she didn't move. He felt her flinch a little at his touch and heard the sharp intake of breath she inhaled, but she didn't move. Their eyes were still locked, as if betting on who would look away first.

He decided to be a little more daring as he slowly leaned his face towards hers, turning the inches into centimeters.

She didn't even flinch or look away. She still sat frozen and looking into his eyes. He could see his reflection in them and saw that his own eyes and face were still expressionless.

The pause hadn't done anything either and he took it farther still. He leaned in closer so that he could feel her breath on his lips, but hadn't actually completely closed the gap yet. A smirk tugged on his lips before he slowly reached the rest of the way and pressed his lips to hers. He felt her gasp again and his smirk almost widened.

After a few seconds, he slowly pulled back to see that her lips were still parted slightly and she was breathing a little faster than before. Her eyes were confused as she searched his guarded eyes.

The smirk was still on his face, and when he saw her glance in the direction of his lips, her face turned as red as a cherry. Immediately her eyes widened, as if just realizing what had happened.

Seeing that this wasn't going to go anywhere today probably, he scooted out from underneath her and stood up lightly, easily pushing himself up. He brushed himself off before holding out his hand, offering to help her up.

Sana hesitantly took his hand and stood up, brushing off her own baggy pants. She walked over and picked up the newspaper that was sitting behind Akito and looked him in the eye once again. A split second later, she simply smiled, as if nothing had happened. "Think the reporters are gone?" she asked, sounding desperate for something to say.

The thought of teasing her about the kiss entered his mind, but he quickly brushed it aside and decided to be the nice guy today. "I think so," he answered. He checked his watch casually. "It's almost time for us to meet back up with the others."

"What?" she shouted, her shoulders drooping a little. "But there's no way it could get so late so fast!"

Akito just shrugged. "The reporters probably ate up most of our time," he guessed, looking over the side of the tall building. There were only a few of them left, and they looked really bored. With any luck, they'd be gone within ten, maybe fifteen, minutes.

Sana just sighed and looked up at the sky. "Yeah, I suppose you're right," she replied. "Well, let's go shopping for just a little bit before we have to meet them alright?"

He just nodded and began to walk in the direction of the fire escape that led right outside the entrance. Not long after, he heard fast paced footsteps follow behind him and glanced down to see Sana walking along side him.

Without meaning to, a thought crossed his mind as he silently studied her. '_Her lips were soft. And tasted like lemons._'

He then found her hazel eyes staring back at him. "What? Is there something on my face?" she asked, wrinkling her nose in a pout.

Akito just ignored the question as he turned his gaze to back in front of him. "No, there isn't," he answered quietly, keeping his gaze in front of him again.

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**A/N:** I decided that what you guys really needed was some fluff in the story! I had a big craving to write some, since I felt like I had forgotten to write for a while and I wanted to reward you all for being such patient reviewers!

As always, please review!

Micki G


	5. What's Your Problem?

Before I start this chapter I just want to say…..

THANKS SO MUCH to Enchanted Pink Jade for betaing these stories! She is definitely awesomely awesome! I wanted to make sure that I didn't forget to say that, because I've been a bad author and haven't properly thanked EPJ yet. (sorry!) Good luck on your midterms!

And also, thanks to all you readers who have reviewed and made me a very happy author. YAY! I just want to point out that more reviews usually motivates me to write faster!

Enjoy!

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Love In Training – Chapter 5 

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_RING! RING!_

Akito slammed his hand down on the alarm clock. The flashing lights read 6:30 a.m. in bold green numbers. With a heavy sigh, he climbed out of the fluffy bed that seemed to be almost two feet from the floor. He slowly walked over to the fancy white dresser that he had set a small framed picture of his mother on the top of. His eyes slowly examined it, taking in the smile across his mother's face. A smile he would never see besides this photograph. His eyes were soft and gentle as he scanned it over, and soon he had to look away so that he wouldn't cry. He changed silently into a sweat suit and quietly walked outside the frilly bedroom and into the hall.

The house was quiet at this time. Tsuyoshi would be waking up in a little bit and Takaishi would probably wake up eventually. That is, if Tsuyoshi decided to wake him up. He didn't know about the Kuratas' sleeping habits, but when he passed by Sana's door, he could hear her heavy breathing and knew she was still asleep. He heard a loud snoring coming from the end of the hall and rolled his eyes. It was probably that sunglasses guy, Rei was it? He shook his head. Who cared?

He descended down the staircase and through the door into the brisk morning air. It was the perfect weather for jogging.

Akito had made it a habit to jog for at least thirty minutes each morning, maybe longer, and keep up his cardio so that he would be in perfect condition for karate. His first lesson was tonight and he wanted to make sure that he taught Sana while he was physically fit.

'_Sana…_'

The single thought crossed his mind as he jogged. Suddenly, the memory of kissing her sprang up in his mind and he stopped for a minute, remembering the sweet memory.

A loud honking filled the air and he soon realized a truck was barreling towards him. He had no time to react and shut his eyes, fearing the worst. How could he have been so stupid? Did that girl really distract him that much?

Without warning, he felt someone's hands shove him out of the way.

He landed with a thud on the ground and the girl who had helped him landed lightly beside him, her braided golden circles falling with a soft slap next to her head.

Akito stood up and offered her a hand, which she gratefully took. When she heaved herself up, she barely even needed his help. She was already fairly strong for the way she looked.

"Are you alright?" she asked him through breaths. She was panting. He realized that she must have run over to save him.

He nodded and they walked through the rest of the crosswalk to together so that another car wouldn't hit them.

"Uh…" she fumbled with her words, looking for something to say.

"You're strong," he said suddenly, causing her to look up at him in surprise.

"Nah," she smiled back, sticking out her tongue, "You should see some of the boys at my school, they're a lot stronger. Especially a boy named Gomi!"

Akito raised a brow at this. Did she really not realize her own strength? He decided not to press it further and asked instead, "What school do you go to?"

She was about to answer, but her watch beeped. "Oh, sorry, but I have to go now! My mom told me to be home soon so I could eat breakfast before school," she explained, already sprinting in the direction of her house.

Akito shrugged and began jogging again. She was a nice girl and reminded him of Sana a little. He stopped and looked at his own watch to see it was already 7:00 a.m. He was about to jog back to Sana's house, when he noticed big iron gates next to him. How had he ended up at the cemetery? He walked inside and easily found his mother's gravestone.

'_A quick prayer won't hurt,_' he thought to himself. He clapped his hands together and bowed his head slightly. '_Mom, please help me to be a good teacher for Sana. Also, please help me on my first day at this school. It won't be easy making friends…well, uh…I guess that's all. I love you mom,_' he prayed.

Quickly, he jogged out of the cemetery and back to the Kuratas' house, not wanting to be late for his first day at this school.

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Sana yawned loudly as she stretched in her bed. She had been sleeping so peacefully that she had almost forgotten it was a school day. She lazily glanced at her clock and her eyes went as wide as moons. "It's 8:30 in the morning!" she screamed. If there was anyone still sleeping, they would have been woken up now.

She threw off the covers and ran over to her bathroom to shower and get ready.

Once that was done, she ran downstairs and saw that her maid, Shimura, had already made breakfast for everyone. She groggily looked around the table. There was her Mama, Rei, Onda, and…Akito? That's right…Akito lived here now.

Without warning, the memory of him kissing her on the rooftop of the mall floated into her mind. She immediately blushed furiously at the sight of him and sat down, looking at the plate of food that was set in front of her. After gobbling down its contents, she made a dash for the door.

"Sana, wait!" her mother yelled, halting her.

"Yes Mama?" she called back, silently pleading Akito didn't have to walk to school with her.

"Wait for Hayama to finish breakfast so he can walk you to school dear," she instructed.

She mentally sighed as her hopes were dashed. "But I'm going to be late for school! I don't have time to wait for him! If he's going to be slow about eating he'll make me even later for school!" she complained.

"Don't worry, I'm done," Akito said non-chantly, pushing his chair back in and heading over to where Sana was standing with his backpack slung lazily over his shoulder.

Sana looked at the door as he walked over. '_I will not let this get to me! He's probably only messing with my mind!_' she thought grumpily as she sped ahead of him slightly on the sidewalk.

She felt piercing eyes on her and turned around to find Akito eyeing her suspiciously. "Is there something you want Hayama?" she asked coldly.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked calmly, unfazed by her rudeness, "You're acting like I have a disease or something…"

She blinked as a blush spread across her face. Her red hair swished as she turned back around to hide it. "It's your imagination," she muttered. She was about to start walking when his words halted her.

"It's about that kiss isn't it?"

Her eyes widened, even though he couldn't see them, and she turned to face him once again. "W-What?" she stammered.

Akito smirked, knowing he'd gotten a direct hit. "That kiss…is that why you're acting so rudely towards me?" he asked.

Her face turned a deeper shade of red. How could he know? "Why did you do it?" she asked hastily.

"Why do you think?" he retorted, raising an eyebrow. Could she really be that dense?

"I don't know. That's why I asked, you idiot!"

Apparently so. "You're the idiot," he shot back, "Was it really that bad?"

Sana's jaw looked like it was about to drop. "Of course it was!" she shouted at him. "I mean, you kissed me the day that we met, how could it not be bad? You're just a…a…a kissing devil!"

Akito's eyes fell a little, but he simply started walking in a laidback fashion. He walked right past her and had even gained a few feet before she frowned and trudged after him, sending glares that could kill someone at the back of his head.

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"Alright class, before we go to break, I want to introduce you to our transfer student, Akito Hayama," the teacher, Miss Mitsuya, announced.

The class immediately stopped packing their bags and looked up at the golden haired boy with questioning stares. To his surprise, a lot of the girls beamed at him. Some of them even exchanged excited glances with each other.

Akito mentally sighed. Being popular was the last thing he wanted to happen. He had to make sure and focus on his goal, training Sana for her movie, so that he could get out of here faster.

Then he saw the girl from this morning. She was casually looking out the window. Her golden braids were still put up in little circles that looped around her ear and she wasn't even paying attention to him.

The teacher gave a small cough and eyed him with anticipation, urging him to introduce himself. "Don't be shy," she whispered in a soft voice, even though he could hear the annoyance in her voice.

He ran a hand through his messy golden hair. "I'm Hayama, Akito," he said in a monotone, glancing around the room coolly. He subconsciously stopped on Sana for a moment.

She was beaming up at him, but when he looked at her a little closer, he could tell she was still eyeing him with suspicion. She didn't trust him yet. She must've still been a little freaked out from the kiss. He hadn't meant to. He'd just gotten caught up in the moment and let her get the best of him.

He closed his eyes for a second, mentally taking another deep breath. He could already tell that this school was going to be a tough thing to handle. There was already drama and he had only walked in the door.

"Hayama, you'll take the seat over there by the window," Miss Mitsuya instructed. She pointed to an empty desk right by the window. It looked comfortable enough. If he got bored, he could just stare out the window.

He slowly walked over to the desk, fully aware of the stares he was getting from everyone in the room.

As he passed by two girls, he heard one whisper, "Oh! He's sitting by you Ayume-chan! You're so lucky!" He tried his hardest not to gag at the comments. Girls weren't a big interest in his life right now. All he cared about was karate, his two best friends, and his family. That's the way it would stay.

"Alright class," Miss Mitsuya piped up, "We're going to start pre-calculus today!" She pulled out a thick book that Akito assumed was the answer key and told the class to get their text books out as well. "Hayama, I don't have an extra book, so for now you'll have to share with Ayume," she said, pointing to the girl sitting next to him.

Akito just rolled his eyes and moved his chair to sit next to her.

Ayume just looked at him with surprised eyes, but then smiled. "Hello Hayama-kun," she greeted softly.

He nodded his head to her. "Hello," he replied dully. His attention then turned to the book in front of him, and he decided for once in his life to really focus on school work.

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"Sana!" someone screamed in her ear.

She drowsily opened her eyes to see Fuka standing in front of her with her hands on her hips. "Hmm?" she asked tiredly.

"Wake up girl!" she ordered, "You're drooling!"

Sana shot up, looking at her desk. Sure enough, a tiny puddle of drool had gathered on her desk. "Oh man!" she screeched, quickly drying off her desk with her sleeve. She quickly wiped the drool from her mouth and smiled at her friends.

"Gosh Sana, what're we gonna do with you?" Fuka asked, rolling her eyes. She smiled to show she was kidding.

"Sana! Fuka! There you are!" Aya shouted as she rushed toward them. There was a worried expression on her face.

"What's wrong Aya-chan?" Sana asked, the worry starting to spread to her face too.

"It's Hayama-kun! He's in a fight!" she yelped.

"What?" Sana yelled, practically jumping out of her seat. "That idiot!"

She scrambled down the hallway with her friends as they made their way to the front of the school, where Aya said it happened.

It wasn't long before Sana kicked open the door, making it swing open and hit the wall behind it with a loud bang. She looked at the scene in front of her and growled in frustration.

Akito was standing in front of Ayume with his fists up and bared. She was lying on the ground with her eyes closed. Sana took a guess and figured she was probably unconscious. What was Akito thinking?

"Hayama-kun…" Sana said slowly, making sure that every letter was said with anger.

He slowly turned to look at her and put his hands at his side, completely ignoring Ayume, who was sprawled out next to him on the ground. His eyes were blank and expressionless as he looked at her.

"What do you think you're doing you idiot?" she shouted. "How could you make a girl unconscious?" Sana felt her temper rising. The blonde jerk was staring at her coolly. He didn't do anything except look at her for a few minutes. Then, he turned his head so he faced away from both Sana and Ayume.

"I lost my temper," was all he said. After that, he started walking towards them.

As soon as he passed her, Sana grabbed his shirt to stop him. "You're a jerk," she whispered to him. Then, she let his shirt go and ran over to where Ayume laid.

The girl from earlier was by her side and a stray tear was streaming down her cheek.

Sana knelt down next to her and gently shook her a little. "Ayume, are you alright?" she asked softly.

A tear rolled down Ayume's cheek slowly as she whispered, "He doesn't like me."

Sana felt her eyes widen as she turned around to see the lone figure of Akito walking back into the school. She didn't get it. Why would he hit her? It didn't make sense. And why did Ayume say that he didn't like her? What did it matter?

"Sana," Aya whispered gently.

Sana snapped out of her daze and put on a smile. "Yeah Aya?" she asked cheerfully.

"Are you alright?" she asked quietly.

Sana nodded. "Yeah, just fine," she lied. Something about Akito bugged her, but it was probably just her imagination.

"Akito's acting weird, don't you think?" she asked. She looked at the door he'd walked through with curious eyes.

Sana nodded, turning her attention to the door as well. "Yeah," she agreed. "Should we ask him about it?"

Aya looked over at Ayume, who was now sitting up with a sad smile. "Judging on what happened to Ayume…I don't think so," she said.

"Then what should we do?" she asked.

"Let's talk to Tsuyoshi," she suggested.

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**A/N: **I'm sorry for the terribly long update. I'm preparing for high school and I'm getting all my application work done! So just bear with me for a few weeks and I'll try to get some out at least every two weeks, alright? I'm trying to get ideas for the plot, but so far….none :/ So if you have anything you'd like to see, just say so in a review.

Thanks to everyone who's stuck with this story.

Stay Fly,

Micki G

P.S. I could be a lot more motivated if I get reviews:)


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